UC-NRLF 


THE 
GREEN 
DOOFL 


MART  E^VILKIKS-FREEMAN 


GOODWIFE  HOPKINS  RODE  THE  GRAY  HORSE 
AND  THE  GIRLS  RODE  BY  TURNS 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


MARY  E.  WILKINS-FF^EMAN 


Illustrated  by 

MARY  R.  BASSETT 


NEW  YORK 

MOFFATr  YARD  AND  COMPANY 

1917 


Stt0 


Copyright,  1910.  by 
MOFFAT    YARD  AND   COMPANY 

NEW  YOBX 


All  RxQJiU  Rttervtd 

First 

printing:,  Oct. 

1910 

Second 

Nov. 

1010 

Third 

Aujr. 

I0I2 

Fourth 

Sept. 

191« 

Fifth 

July. 

1615 

Sixth 

Au«., 

1S17 

r. 


% 


wm 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Goodwife  Hopkins  rode  the  gray  horse,  and 
the  girls  rode  by  turns      . 

She  was  in  the  midst  of  a  gloomy  forest  of  trees 

Letitia  stared  up  into  the  faces  all  staring  wonder- 
ingly  at  her 

She  showed  Letitia  her  treasures    .... 


THE    GR;SEN   DQOIl 


T  ETITIA  lived  in  the  same  house 
-■-^  where  her  grandmother  and  her 
great-grandmother  had  lived  and  died. 
Her  own  parents  died  when  she  was  very 
young,  and  she  had  come  there  to  live  with 
her  Great-aunt  Feggy.  Her  Great-aunt 
Peggy  was  her  grandfather's  sister,  and 
was  a  very  old  woman.  However,  she  was 
very  active  and  bright,  and  good  company 
for  Letitia.  That  was  fortunate,  because 
there  w^re  no  little  girls  of  Letitia's  age 
nearer  than  a  mile.  The  one  maid-servant 
w^hom  Aunt  Peggy  kept  was  older  than 
she,  and  had  chronic  rheumatism  in  the 
right  foot  and  left  shoulder-blade,  which 
affected  her  temper. 

Letitia's  Great-aunt  'Peggy  used  to  play 
grace-hoops  with  her,  and  dominoes  and 
checkers,  and  even  dolls.  Sometimes  it 
was  hard  for  Letitia  to  realize  that  she  was 
not  another  little  girl.  Her  Aunt  Peggy 
was  very  kind  to  her  and  fond  of  her,  and 
(1) 


THE  GEEEN  DOOR 


£aax. 


^^! 


took  care  of  her  as  well  as  her  own  mother 
could  have  done.  Letitia  had  all  the  care 
and  comforts  and  pleasant  society  that  she 
really  needed,  but  she  was  not  a  very  con- 
tented little  girl.  She  was  naturally  rather 
idle,  and  her  Aunt  Peggy,  who  was  a 
wise  old  woman  and  believed  thoroughly 
in  the  proverb  about  Satan  and  idle  hands, 
would  keep  her  always  busy  at  something. 

If  she  were  not  playing,  she  had  to  sew 
or  study  or  dust,  or  read  a  stent  in  a  story- 
book. Letitia  had  very  nice  story-books, 
but  she  was  not  particularly  fond  of  read- 
ing. She  liked  best  of  anything  to  sit 
quite  idle,  and  plan  what  she  would  like  to 
do  if  she  could  have  her  wish — and  that  her 
Aunt  Peggy  would  not  allow. 

Letitia  was  not  satisfied  with  her  dolls 
and  little  treasures.  She  wanted  new  ones. 
She  wanted  fine  clothes  like  one  little  girl, 
and  plenty  of  candy  like  another.  When 
Letitia  went  to  school  she  always  came 
(2) 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


aCa2^ 


home  more  dissatisfied.  She  wanted  her 
room  newly  furnished,  and  thought  the 
furniture  in  the  whole  house  very  shabby. 
She  disliked  to  rise  so  early  in  the  morn- 
ing. She  did  not  like  to  take  a  walk  evei^y 
day,  and  besides  everything  else  to  make 
her  discontented,  there  was  the  little  green 
door,  which  she  must  never  open  and  pass 
through. 

The  house  where  Letitia  lived  was,  of 
course,  a  very  old  one.  It  had  a  roof,  saggy 
and  mossy,   gray   shingles  in  the  walls, 
lilac  bushes  half  hiding  the  great  windows, 
and  a  well-sweep  in  the  yard.     It  was 
quite  a  large  house,  and  there  were  sheds 
and  a  great  barn  attached  to  it,  but  they 
were  all  on  the  side.    At  the  back  of  the 
house  the  fields  stretched  away  for  acres, 
and  there  were  no  outbuildings.    The  little 
green  door  was  at  the  very  back  of  the 
house,  toward  the  fields,  in  a  room  open- 
ing out  of  the  kitchen.    It  was  called  the 
(3) 


V 


•A 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 

mmmmummmm^amimmBmmmmaammmm 


i&J^ 


cheese-room,  because  Letitia's  grand- 
mother, who  had  made  cheeses,  had  kept 
them  there.  She  fancied  she  could  smell 
cheese,  though  none  had  been  there  for 
years,  and  it  was  used  now  only  for  a 
lumber-room.  She  always  sniffed  hard 
for  cheese,  and  then  she  eyed  the  little 
green  door  with  wonder  and  longing.  It 
was  a  small  green  door,  scarcely  higher 
than  her  head.  A  gro^vn  person  could  not 
have  passed  through  without  stooping  al- 
most double.  It  was  very  narrow,  too,  and 
no  one  who  was  not  slender  could  have 
squeezed  through  it.  In  this  door  there 
was  a  little  black  keyhole,  with  no  key  in 
it,  but  it  was  always  locked.  Letitia  knew 
that  her  Aunt  Peggy  kept  the  key  in  some 
very  safe  place,  but  she  would  never  show 
it  to  her,  nor  unlock  the  door. 

*'It  is  not  best  for  you,  my  dear,"  she  al- 
ways replied,  when  Letitia  teased  her ;  and 
when  Letitia 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


she  could  not  go  out  of  the  door,  she  made 
the  same  reply,  "It  is  not  best  for  you,  my 
dear." 

Sometimes,  when  Aunt  Peggy  was  not 
by,  Letitia  w^ould  tease  the  old  maid-ser- 
vant about  the  little  green  door,  but  she 
always  seemed  both  cross  and  stupid,  and 
gave  her  no  satisfaction.    She  even  seemed 
to  think  there  was  no  little  green  door 
there;  but  that  w^as  nonsense,  because  Le- 
titia knew  there  was.    Her  curiosity  grew 
greater  and  greater ;  she  took  every  chance 
she  could  get  to  steal  into  the  cheese-room 
and  shake  the  door  softly,  but  it  was  al- 
ways  locked.      She   even   tried   to   look 
through  the  key-hole,  but  she  could  see 
nothing.    One  thing  puzzled  her  more  than 
all,  and  that  was  that  the  little  green  door 
was  on  the  inside  of  the  house  only,  and  not 
on  the  outside.    When  Letitia  went  out  in 
the  field  behind  the  house,  there  was  noth- 
ing but  the  blank  wall  to  be  seen.    There 
15) 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


^t^as^ 


»* '»; 


was  no  sign  of  a  door  in  it.  But  the  cheese- 
room  was  certainly  the  last  room  in  the 
house,  and  the  little  green  door  was  in  the 
rear  wall.  When  Letitia  asked  her  Great- 
aunt  Peggy  to  explain  that,  she  only  got 
the  same  answer: 

"It  is  not  best  for  you  to  know,  my 
dear." 

Letitia  studied  the  little  green  door 
more  than  she  studied  her  lesson-books, 
but  she  never  got  any  nearer  the  solution 
of  the  mystery,  until  one  Sunday  morn- 
ing in  January.  It  was  a  very  cold  day, 
and  she  had  begged  hard  to  stay  home 
from  church.  Her  Aunt  Peggy  and  the 
maid-servant,  old  as  they  were,  were  go- 
ing, but  Letitia  shivered  and  coughed  a 
little  and  pleaded,  and  finally  had  her  own 
way. 

"But  you  must  sit  down  quietly," 
charged  Aunt  Peggy,  "and  you  must 
learn  your  texts,  to  repeat  to  me  when  I 
get  home." 

(6) 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


After  Aunt  Peggy  and  the  old  servant, 
in  their  great  cloaks  and  bonnets  and  fur 
tippets,  had  gone  out  of  the  yard  and 
do^n  the  road,  Letitia  sat  quiet  for  fifteen 
minutes  or  so,  hunting  in  the  Bible  for 
easy  texts;  then  suddenly  she  thought  of 
the  little  green  door,  and  wondered,  as  she 
had  done  so  many  times  before,  if  it  could 
possibly  be  opened.  She  laid  do^vn  her 
Bible  and  stole  out  through  the  kitchen  to 
the  cheese-room  and  tried  the  door.  It 
was  locked  just  as  usual.  "Oh,  dear!" 
sighed  Letitia,  and  was  ready  to  cr}-.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  this  little  green  door 
was  the  ver\"  worst  of  all  her  trials;  that 
she  would  rather  open  that  and  see  what 
was  beyond  than  have  all  the  nice  things 
she  wanted  and  had  to  do  without. 

Suddenly  she  thought  of  a  little  satin- 
wood  box  with  a  picture  on  the  lid  which 
Aunt  Peggy  kept  in  her  top  bureau- 
(7) 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


£x^ 


draAver.  Letitia  had  often  seen  this  box, 
but  had  never  been  allowed  to  open  it. 

"I  wonder  if  the  key  can  be  in  that  box," 
said  she. 

She  did  not  wait  a  minute.  She  w^as  so 
naughty  that  she  dared  not  wait  for  fear 
she  should  remember  that  she  ought  to  be 
good.  She  ran  out  of  the  cheese-room, 
through  the  kitchen  and  sitting-room,  to 
her  aimt's  bedroom,  and  opened  the  bu- 
reau drawer,  and  then  the  satin-wood  box. 
It  contained  some  bits  of  old  lace,  an  old 
brooch,  a  yellow  letter,  some  other  things 
which  she  did  not  examine,  and,  sure 
enough,  a  little  black  key  on  a  green  rib- 
bon. 

Letitia  had  not  a  doubt  that  it  was  the 
key  of  the  little  green  door.  She  trembled 
all  over,  she  panted  for  breath,  she  w^as  so 
frightened,  but  she  did  not  hesitate.  She 
took  the  key  and  ran  back  to  the  cheese- 
room.  She  did  not  stop  to  shut  the  satin- 
(8) 


THE    GREEX   DOOR 


wood  box  or  the  bureau  drawer.  She  was 
so  cold  and  her  hands  shook  so  that  she 
had  some  difficulty  in  fitting  the  key  into 
the  lock  of  the  little  green  door ;  but  at  last 
she  succeeded,  and  turned  it  quite  easily. 
Then,  for  a  second,  she  hesitated ;  she  was 
almost  afraid  to  open  the  door ;  she  put  her 
hand  on  the  latch  and  drew  it  back.  It 
seemed  to  her,  too,  that  she  heard  strange, 
alarming  sounds  on  the  other  side. 
Finally,  with  a  great  effort  of  her  will,  she 
unlatched  the  little  green  door,  and  flung 
it  open  and  ran  out. 

Then  she  gave  a  scream  of  surprise  and 
terror,  and  stood  still  staring.  She  did 
not  dare  stir  nor  breathe.  She  was  not  in 
the  open  fields  which  she  had  always  seen 
behind  the  house.  She  was  in  the  midst  of 
a  gloomy  forest  of  trees  so  tall  that  she 
could  just  see  the  wintr}'-  sk}"  through  their 
tops.  She  was  hemmed  in,  too,  by  a  wide, 
hooping  undergrowth  of  bushes  and  bram- 
(9) 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


ttaOk. 


bles,  all  stiff  with  snow.  There  was  some- 
thing dreadful  and  ghastly  about  this 
forest,  which  had  the  breathless  odor  of  a 
cellar.  And  suddenly  Letitia  heard  again 
those  strange  sounds  she  had  heard  before 
coming  out,  and  she  knew  that  they  were 
savage  whoops  of  Indians,  just  as  she  had 
read  about  them  in  her  history-book,  and 
she  saw  also  dark  forms  skulking  about  be- 
hind the  trees,  as  she  had  read. 

Then  Letitia,  wild  with  fright,  turned 
to  run  back  into  the  house  through  the  lit- 
tle green  door,  but  there  was  no  little  green 
door,  and,  more  than  that,  there  was  no 
house.  Nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  the 
forest  and  a  bridle-path  leading  through 
it. 

Letitia  gasped.  She  could  not  believe 
her  eyes.  She  ran  out  into  the  path  and 
down  it  a  little  way,  but  there  was  no 
house.  The  dreadful  yells  sounded  nearer. 
She  looked  wildly  at  the  undere^rowth 
(10) 


m 


'  *\   \      *    » '  'j , »  J ' S  '  *  '  '  ' 


! 


SHE  WAS  IN  THE  MIDST  OF  A  GLOOMY  FOREST 
OF  TREES 


THE    GREEX    DOOU 


beside  the  path,  wondering  if  she  could 
hide  under  that,  when  suddenly  she  heard 
a  gun-shot  and  the  tramp  of  a  horse's  feet. 
She  sprang  aside  just  as  a  great  horse, 
with  a  woman  and  two  little  girls  on  his 
back,  came  plunging  down  the  bridle-path 
and  passed  her.  Then  there  was  another 
gun-shot,  and  a  man,  with  a  wide  cape  fly- 
ing back  like  black  wm^s.  came  rushing 
down  the  path.  Letitia  gave  a  little  cry, 
and  he  heard  her. 

"Who  are  you?"  he  cried  breathlessly. 
Then,  without  waiting  for  an  answer,  he 
caught  her  up  and  bore  her  along  with 
him.  "Don't  speak,"*  he  panted  m  her  ear. 
"The  Indians  are  upon  us,  but  we're  al- 
most home!" 

Then  all  at  once  a  log-house  appeared 
beside  the  path,  and  someone  was  holding 
the  door  ajar,  and  a  white  face  was  peer- 
ing out.  The  door  was  flung  open  wide 
as  they  came  up,  the  man  rushed  in,  set 

(11) 


±r±rj    *jitJi,ji,j\     JJUUll 


Letitia  down,  shut  the  door  with  a  crash, 
and  shot  some  heavj^  bolts  at  top  and  bot- 
tom. 

Letitia  was  so  dazed  that  she  scarcely 
knew  what  happened  for  the  next  few  min- 
utes. She  saw  there  a  pale-faced  woman 
and  three  girls,  one  about  her  own  age, 
two  a  little  younger.  She  saw,  to  her  great 
amazement,  the  horse  tied  in  the  corner. 
She  saw  that  the  door  was  of  mighty  thick- 
ness, and,  moreover,  hasped  with  iron  and 
studded  with  great  iron  nails,  so  that  some 
rattling  blows  that  were  rained  upon  it 
presently  had  no  effect.  She  saw  three 
guns  set  in  loopholes  in  the  walls,  and  the 
man,  the  woman,  and  the  girl  of  her  own 
age  firing  them,  with  great  reports  which 
made  the  house  quake,  while  the  younger 
girls  raced  from  one  to  the  other  with  pow- 
der and  bullets.  Still,  she  was  not  sure 
she  saw  right,  it  was  all  so  strange.  She 
stood  back  in  a  corner,  out  of  the  way,  and 
(12) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


■c^ 


waited,  trembling,  and  at  last  the  fierce 
yeUs  outside  died  away,  and  the  firing 
stopped. 

"They  have  fled,"  said  the  woman  with 
a  thankful  sigh. 

"Yes,"  said  the  man,  "we  are  deUvered 

once  more  out  of  the  hands  of  the  enemy." 

"We  must  not  unbar  the  door  or  the 

shutters  yet,"  said  the  woman  anxiously. 

"I  will  get  the  supper  by  candle-light." 

Then  Letitia  realized  what  she  had  not 
done  before,  that  all  the  daylight  was  shut 
out  of  the  house;  that  they  had  for  light 
only  one  taUow  candle  and  a  low  hearth 
fire.  It  was  verj' cold.  Letitia  began  to 
shiver  with  cold  as  well  as  fear. 

Suddenly  the  woman  turned  to  her  with 
motherly  kindness  and  curiosity.  "Who  is 
this  little  damsel  whom  you  rescued,  hus- 
band?" said  she. 

"She  must  speak  for  herself,"  replied 
(13) 


TMJii  uK±:jj:i\   JJUUK 


her  husband,  smiling.  *'I  thought  at  first 
she  was  neighbor  Adams's  Phoebe,  but  I 
see  she  is  not/' 

"What  is  your  name,  little  girl?"  asked 
the  woman,  while  the  three  little  girls 
looked  wonderingly  at  the  new-comer. 

"Letitia  Hopkins,"  rephed  Letitia  in  a 
small,  scared  voice. 

"Letitia  Hopkins,  did  you  say?"  asked 
the  woman  doubtfully. 

"Yes,  ma'am."  ;' 

They  all  stared  at  her,  then  at  one  an-      It 
other. 

"It  is  very  strange,"  said  the  woman      |k 
finally,  with  a  puzzled,  half-alarmed  look. 
"Letitia  Hopkins  is  my  name." 

"And  it  is  mine,  too,"  said  the  eldest 
girl. 

Letitia  gave  a  great  jump.    There  was 
something  very  strange  about  this.     Le- 
titia Hopkins  was  a  family  name.     Her 
grandmother,    her    father's  mother,    had 
(14) 


THE    GilEEN   DOOR 


been  Letitia  Hopkins,  and  she  had  al- 
ways heard  that  the  name  could  be  traced 
back  in  the  same  order  for  generations,  as 
the  Hopkinses  had  intermarried.  She 
looked  up,  trembling,  at  the  man  who  had 
saved  her  from  the  Indians. 

"Will  you  please  tell  me  your  name, 
sir?"  she  said. 

"John  Hopkins,"  repHed  the  man,  smil- 
ing kindly  at  her. 

"Captain  John  Hopkins,"  corrected  his 

wife. 

Letitia  gasped.    That  settled  it.    Cap- 
tain John  Hopkins  was  her  great-great- 
great-grandfather.      Great-aunt     Peggy 
had  often  told  her  about  him.     He  had 
been  a  notable  man  in  his  day,  among  the 
first  settlers,  and  many  a  story  concern- 
ing him  had  come  do^vn  to  his  descendants. 
A  queer  miniature  of  him,  in  a  little  gilt 
frame,  hung  in  the  best  parlor,  and  Le- 
titia had    often   looked  at  it.     She    had 
(15) 


THJi    GKEEX    DOOR 


thought  from  the  first  that  there  was  some- 
thing familiar  about  the  man's  face,  and 
now  she  recognized  the  likeness  to  the  min- 
iature. 

It  seemed  awful,  and  impossible,  but  the 
little  green  door  led  into  the  past,  and  Le- 
titia  Hopkins  was  visiting  her  great- great- 
great-grandfather  and  grandmother, 
great-great-grandmother,  and  her  great- 
great-aunts. 

Letitia  looked  up  in  the  faces,  all  staring 
wonderingly  at  her,  and  all  of  them  had 
that  familiar  look,  though  she  had  no  min- 
iature of  the  others.  Suddenly  she  knew 
that  it  was  a  likeness  to  her  own  face  which 
she  recognized,  and  it  was  as  if  she  saw 
herself  in  a  looking-glass.  She  felt  as  if 
her  head  was  turning  round  and  round, 
and  presently  her  feet  began  to  follow  the 
motion  of  her  head,  then  strong  arms 
caught  her,  or  she  would  have  fallen. 

When  Letitia  came  to  herself  again,  she 
(16) 


LETITIA  STARED  UP  IN  THE  FACES,  ALL 
STARING  WONDERINGLY  AT  HER 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


BS=£2i2w> 


was  in  a  great  feather  bed,  in  the  unfin- 
ished loft  of  the  log-house.  The  wind  blew 
in  her  face,  a  great  star  shone  in  her  eyes. 
She  thought  at  first  she  was  out  of  doors. 
Then  she  heard  a  kind  but  commanding 
voice  repeating :  "Open  your  mouth,"  and 
stared  up  wildly  into  her  great-great- 
great-grandmother's  face,  then  around  the 
strange  little  garret,  lighted  with  a  wisp 
of  rag  in  a  pewter  dish  of  tallow,  and  the 
stars  shining  through  the  crack  in  the  logs. 
Not  a  bit  of  furniture  was  there  in  the 
room,  besides  the  bed  and  an  oak  chest. 
Some  queer-looking  garments  hung  about 
on  pegs  and  swung  in  the  draughts  of  the 
wind.  It  must  have  been  snowing  outside, 
for  little  piles  of  snow  were  scattered  here 
and  there  about  the  room. 

"Where — am — I?"  Letitia  asked  feebly, 

but  no  sooner  had  she  opened  her  mouth 

than  her  great-great-great-grandmother, 

Goodwife  Hopkins,  who  had  been  watch- 

(17) 


mm 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


1^ 


ing  her  chance,  popped  in  the  pewter 
spoon  full  of  some  horribly  black  and  bit- 
ter medicine. 

Letitia  nearly  choked. 
"Swallow  it,"  said  Good^\dfe  Hopkins. 
You  swooned  away,  and  it  is  good  physic. 
It  will  soon  make  you  well." 

Goodwife  Hopkins  had  a  kind  and 
motherly  way,  but  a  way  from  which  there 
was  no  appeal.  Letitia  swallowed  the  bit- 
ter dose. 

"Xow  go  to  sleep,"  ordered  Goodwife 
Hopkins. 

Letitia  went  to  sleep.  There  might  have 
been  something  quieting  to  the  ner\^es  in 
the  good  physic.  She  was  awakened  a  lit- 
tle later  by  her  great-great-grandmother 
and  her  two  great-great-aunts  coming  to 
bed.  They  were  to  sleep  with  her.  There 
were  only  two  beds  in  Captain  John  Hop- 
kins's house. 

Letitia  had  never  slept  four  in  a  bed  be- 
ds) 


THE    GREEX   DOOR 


daa^ 


fore.  There  was  not  much  room.  She  had 
to  turn  herself  about  crosswise,  and  then 
her  toes  stuck  into  the  icy  air,  unless  she 
kept  them  well  pulled  up.  But  soon  she 
fell  asleep  again. 

About  midnight  she  was  awakened  by 
wild  cries  in  the  woods  outside,  and  lay  a 
minute,  numb  with  fright,  before  she  re- 
membered where  she  was.  Then  she 
nudged  her  great-great-grandmother,  Le- 
titia,  who  lay  next  her. 

"^Miat's  that?"  she  whispered  fearfully. 

"Oh,  it's  nothing  but  a  catamount.  Go 
to  sleep  again,"  said  her  great-great- 
grandmother  sleepily.  Her  great-great- 
aunt,  Phyllis,  the  youngest  of  them  all, 
laughed  on  the  other  side. 

"She's  afraid  of  a  catamount,"  said  she. 

Letitia  could  not  go  to  sleep  for  a  long 
while,  for  the  wild  cries  continued,  and  she 
thought  several  times  that  the  catamount 
was  scratching  up  the  walls  of  the  house. 

(19: 


V 


THE    GREEX   DOOR 


i^a^ 


%i\ 


m 

^M 

/iP 

r  r"^^*^  ] 

'\^Tien  she  did  fall  asleep  it  was  not  for 
long,  for  the  fierce  yells  she  had  heard 
when  she  had  first  opened  her  little  green 
door  sounded  again  in  her  ears. 

This  time  she  did  not  need  to  wake  her 
great-great-grandmother,  who  sat  straight 
up  in  bed  at  the  first  sound. 

"What's  that?"  whispered  Letitia. 
"Hush!"  replied  the  other.  "Injuns!" 
Both  the  great-great-aunts  were  awake ; 
they  all  listened,  scarcely  breathing.  The 
yells  came  again,  but  fainter;  then  again, 
and  fainter  still.  Letitia's  great-great- 
grandmother  settled  back  in  bed  again. 

"Go  to  sleep  now,"  said  she.  "They've 
gone  away." 

But  Letitia  was  weeping  with  fright. 
"I  can't  go  to  sleep,"  she  sobbed.  "I'm 
afraid  they'll  come  again." 

"Very  likely  they  will,"  replied  the  other 
Letitia  coolly.  "They  come  'most  every 
night." 

"The    little     great-great-aunt    PhyUis 
(20) 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


laughed  again.    "She  can't  go  to  sleep  be- 
cause she  heard  Injuns,"  she  tittered. 

"Hush,"  said  her  sister  Letitia,  "she'll 
get  accustomed  to  them  in  time." 

But  poor  Letitia  slept  no  more  till  four 
o'clock.  Then  she  had  just  fallen  into  a 
sweet  doze  when  she  was  pulled  out  of  bed. 

"Come,    come,"   said   her   great-great- 
great-grandmother,   Goodwife  Hopkins, 
we  can  have  no  lazy  damsels  here." 

Letitia  found  that  her  bedfellows  were 
up  and  dressed  and  downstairs.  She  heard 
a  queer  buzzing  sound  from  below,  as  she 
stood  in  her  bare  feet  on  the  icy  floor  and 
gazed  about  her,  dizzy  with  sleep. 

"Hasten  and  dress  yourself,"  said 
Goodwife  Hopkins.  "Here  are  some  of 
Letitia's  garments  I  have  laid  out  for  you. 
Those  which  you  wore  here  I  have  put 
away  in  the  chest.  They  are  too  gay,  and 
do  not  befit  a  sober,  God-fearing  dam- 
sel.'* 

Y2iy 


THE  GREEX  DOOR 


m 


tamo 


lia^ 


With  that,  GoodTvife  Hopkins  de- 
scended to  the  room  below,  and  Letitia 
dressed  herself.  It  did  not  take  her  long. 
There  was  not  much  to  put  on  beside  a 
coarse  wool  petticoat  and  a  straight  Httle 
wool  gown,  rough  yarn  stockings,  and 
such  shoes  as  she  had  never  seen. 

"I  couldn't  run  from  Injuns  in  these," 
thought  Letitia  miserably.  When  she  got 
downstairs  she  discovered  what  the  buzz- 
ing noise  was.  Her  great-great-grand- 
mother was  spinning.  Her  great-great- 
aunt  Candace  was  knitting,  and  little 
Phyllis  was  scouring  the  hearth.  Good- 
wife  Hopkins  was  preparing  breakfast. 

"Go  to  the  other  wheel,"  said  she  to  Le- 
titia, "and  spin  until  the  porridge  is  done. 
We  can  have  no  idle  hands  here." 

Letitia  looked  helplessly  at  a  great  spin- 
ing-wheel  in  the  comer,  then  at  her  great- 
great-great-grandmother. 

"I  don't  know  how,"  she  faltered. 
(22) 


baaaaHasfigifli 


THE    GKEEN   DOOR 


;0k 


Then  all  the  great-grandmothers  and 
the  aunts  cried  out  with  astonishment. 

"She  doesn't  know  how  to  spin!"  they 
said  to  one  another. 

Letitia  felt  dreadfully  ashamed. 

"You  must  have  been  strangely  brought 

up,"    said    Goodwife    Hopkins.     "Well, 

t^      take  this  stocking  and  round  out  the  toe. 

There  will  be  just  about  time  enough  for 

that  before  breakfast." 

"I  don't  know  how  to  knit,"  stammered 
Letitia. 

Then  there  was  another  cry  of  astonish- 
ment. Goodwife  Hopkins  cast  about  her 
for  another  task  for  this  ignorant  guest. 

"Explain  the  doctrine  of  predestina- 
tion," said  she  suddenly. 

Letitia  jumped  up  and  stared  at  her 
with  scared  eyes. 

"Don't  you  know  what  predestination 
is?"  demanded  Goodwife  Hopkins. 
"No,  ma'am,"  half  sobbed  Letitia. 
(23) 


V 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


Her  great-great-grandmother  and  her 
great-great-aunts  made  shocked  exclama- 
tions, and  her  great-great-great-grand- 
mother  looked  at  her  with  horror.  "You 
have  been  brought  up  as  one  of  the  hea- 
then," said  she.  Then  she  produced  a 
small  book,  and  Letitia  was  bidden  to  seat 
herself  upon  a  stool  and  learn  the  doctrine 
of  predestination  before  breakfast. 

The  kitchen  was  lighted  only  by  one 
tallow  candle  and  the  firelight,  for  it  was 
still  far  from  dawn.  Letitia  drew  her  Ht- 
tle  stool  close  to  the  hearth,  and  bent  anxi- 
ously over  the  fire-ht  page.  She  commit- 
ted to  memor}^  easily,  and  repeated  the 
text  like  a  frightened  parrot  when  she  was 
called  upon. 

*'The  child  has  good  parts,  though  she 
is  woefully  ignorant,"  said  Good  wife 
Hopkins  aside  to  her  husband.  "It  shall 
be  my  care  to  instruct  her." 

Letitia,  ha\ang  completed  her  ts 


was 


(24) 


-.r 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


given  her  breakfast.  It  was  only  a  portion 
of  com-meal  porridge  in  a  pewter  plate. 
She  had  never  had  such  a  strange  break- 
fast in  her  life,  and  she  did  not  like  corn- 
meal.    She  sat  with  it  untasted  before  her. 

*'V^Tiy  don't  you  eat?"  asked  her  great- 
great-great-grandmother  severely. 

"I— don't— like— it,"  faltered  Letitia. 
If  possible,  they  were  all  more  shocked 
by  that  than  they  had  been  by  her  ignor- 
ance. 

"She  doesn't  like  the  good  porridge," 
the  little  great-great-aunts  said  to  each 
other. 

"Eat  the  porridge,"  commanded  Cap- 
tain John  Hopkins  sternly,  when  he  had 
gotten  over  his  surprise. 

Letitia  ate  the  porridge,  exery  grain  of 
it.  After  breakfast  the  serious  work  of 
the  day  began.  Letitia  had  never  known 
anything  like  it.  She  felt  like  a  baby  who 
had  just  come  into  a  new  world.    She  was 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


lAafih 


ignorant  of  everything  that  these  strange 
relatives  knew.  It  made  no  difference  that 
she  knew  some  things  which  they  did  not, 
some  advanced  things.  She  could,  for  in- 
stance, crochet,  if  she  could  not  knit.  She 
could  repeat  the  multiplication-table,  if 
she  did  not  know  the  doctrine  of  predesti- 
nation; she  had  also  all  the  States  of  the 
Union  by  heart.  But  advanced  knowledge 
is  not  of  as  much  value  in  the  past  as  past 
knowledge  in  the  future.  She  could  not 
crochet,  because  there  was  no  crochet 
needles;  there  were  no  States  of  the 
Union;  and  it  seemed  doubtful  if  there 
was  a  multiplication-table,  there  was  so 
little  to  multiply. 

So  Letitia  had  set  herself  to  acquiring 
the  wisdom  of  her  ancestors.  She  learned 
to  card,  and  hetchel,  and  spin  and  weave. 
She  learned  to  dye  cloth,  and  make  coarse 
garments,  even  for  her  great-great-great- 
grandfather, Captain  Jolm  Hopkins. 
(26) 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


daa^ 


She  knitted  yam  stockings,  she  scoured 
brass  and  pewter,  and,  more  than  all,  she 
learned  the  entire  catechism.  Letitia  had 
never  really  known  what  work  was.  From 
long  before  dawn  until  long  after  dark,  she 
toiled.  She  was  not  allowed  to  spend  one 
idle  moment.  She  had  no  chance  to  steal 
out  and  search  for  the  little  green  door, 
even  had  she  not  been  so  afraid  of  wild 
beasts  and  Indians. 

She  never  went  out  of  the  house  except 
on  the  Sabbath  day.  Then,  in  fair  or  foul 
weather,  they  all  went  to  meeting,  ten 
miles  through  the  dense  forest.  Captain 
John  Hopkins  strode  ahead,  his  gun  over 
his  shoulder.  Goodwife  Hopkins  rode  the 
gray  horse,  and  the  girls  rode  by  turns, 
two  at  a  time,  clinging  to  the  pillion  at  her 
back.  Letitia  was  never  allowed  to  wear 
her  own  pretty  plain  dress,  with  the  velvet 
collar,  even  to  meeting. 

"It  would  create  a  scandal  in  the  sanctu- 
(27) 


^^i 


•    is 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 

II        "■  <u  I   ii>i'~iip  II  "mil  T~ 


Hi 


"\ 


ary,"  said  Goodwife  Hopkins.  So  Letitia 
went  always  in  the  queer  little  coarse  and 
scanty  gown,  which  seemed  to  her  more 
like  a  bag  than  anything  else ;  and  for  out- 
side wraps  she  had — of  all  things — a  home- 
spun blanket  pinned  over  her  head.  Her 
great-great-grandmother  and  her  great- 
great-aunts  were  all  fitted  out  in  a  similar 
fashion.  Goodwife  Hopkins,  however, 
had  a  great  wadded  hood  and  a  fine  red 
cloak. 

There  was  never  any  fire  in  the  meeting- 
house, and  the  services  lasted  all  day,  with 
a  short  recess  at  noon,  during  which  they 
went  into  a  neighboring  house,  sat  round 
the  fire,  warmed  their  half  frozen  feet,  and 
ate  cold  corn-cakes  and  pan-cakes  for 
luncheon.  There  were  no  pews  in  the 
meeting-house,  nothing  but  hard  benches 
without  backs.  If  Letitia  fidgetted,  or  fell 
asleep,  the  tithing-men  rapped  her.  Le- 
titia would  never  have  been  allowed  to 
(28) 


^^^^^Kir- 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


iA, 


stay  away  from  meeting,  had  she  begged 
to  do  so,  but  she  never  did.  She  was  afraid 
to  stay  alone  in  the  house  because  of  In- 
dians. 

Quite  often  there  was  a  rumor  of  hostile 
Indians  in  the  neighborhood,  and  twice 
there  were  attacks.  Letitia  learned  to  load 
the  guns  and  hand  the  powder  and  bullets. 

She  grew  more  and  more  homesick  as  the 
days  went  on.  They  were  all  kind  to  her, 
and  she  became  fond  of  them,  especially 
of  the  great-great-grandmother  of  her 
own  age,  and  the  little  great-great-aunts, 
but  they  seldom  had  any  girlish  sports  to- 
gether. Goodwife  Hopkins  kept  them  too 
busily  at  work.  Once  in  a  while,  as  a  spe- 
cial treat,  they  were  allowed  to  play  bean- 
porridge-hot  for  fifteen  minutes.  They 
were  not  allowed  to  talk  after  they  went  to 
bed,  and  there  was  little  opportunity  for 
girhsh  confidences. 

However,  there  came  a  day  at  last  when 
Captain  Hopkins  and  his  wife  were  called 
(29) 


V 


5  • .  '<"^ ' 

mm 


iH  r    •"'  -""^ M  •"• 


llliL     C.KJ.i!..N     JJUUK 


away  to  visit  a  sick  neighbor,  some  twelve 
miles  distant,  and  the  four  girls  were  left 
in  charge  of  the  house.  At  seven  o'clock 
the  two  younger  went  to  bed,  and  Letitia 
and  her  great-great-grandmother  re- 
mained up  to  wait  for  the  return  of  their 
elders,  as  they  had  been  instructed.  Then 
it  was  that  the  little  great-great-grand- 
mother showed  Letitia  her  treasures.  She 
had  only  two,  and  was  not  often  allowed 
to  look  at  them,  lest  they  wean  her  heart 
away  from  more  serious  things.  They 
were  kept  in  a  secret  drawer  of  the  great 
chest  for  safety,  and  were  nothing  but  a 
little  silver  snuff-box  with  a  picture  on 
the  top,  and  a  little  flat  glass  bottle,  about 
an  inch  and  a  half  long. 

"The  box  belonged  to  my  grandfather, 
and  the  bottle  to  his  mother.  I  have  them 
because  I  am  the  eldest,  but  I  must  not 
set  my  heart  on  them  unduly,"  said  Le- 
titia's  great-great-grandmother. 
(30) 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


i£3^ 


Letitia  tried  to  count  how  many 
"greats"  belonged  to  the  ancestors  who 
had  first  owned  these  treasures,  but  it 
made  her  dizzy.  She  had  never  told  the 
story  of  the  little  green  door  to  any  of 
them.  She  had  been  afraid  to,  knowing 
how  shocked  they  would  be  at  her  dis- 
obedience. Xow,  however,  when  the  treas- 
ure was  replaced,  she  was  moved  in  con- 
fidence, and  told  her  great-great-grand- 
mother the  story. 

"That  is  very  strange,"  said  her  great- 
great-grandmother,  when  Letitia  had  fin- 
ished. "We  have  a  little  green  door,  too; 
only  ours  is  on  the  outside  of  the  house,  in 
the  north  wall.  There's  a  spruce  tree 
growing  close  up  against  it  that  hides  it, 
but  it  is  there.  Our  parents  have  forbid- 
den us  to  open  it,  too,  and  we  have  never 
disobeyed." 

She  said  the  last  with  something  of  an 
air  of  superior  virtue.  Letitia  felt  terribly 
ashamed. 


TSI 


m 


THE    GKJb^J^xN    DUUK 


"Is  there  any  key  to  your  little  green 
door?"  she  asked  meekly. 

For  answer  her  great-great-grand- 
mother opened  the  secret  drawer  of  the 
chest  again,  and  pulled  out  a  key  with  a 
green  ribbon  in  it,  the  very  counterpart  of 
the  one  in  the  satin-wood  box. 

Letitia  looked  at  it  wistfully. 

*'I  should  never  think  of  disobepng  my 
parents,  and  opening  the  little  green 
door,"  remarked  her  great-great-grand- 
mother, as  she  put  back  the  key  in  the 
drawer.  "I  should  think  something  dread- 
ful would  happen  to  me.  I  have  heard  it 
whispered  that  the  door  opened  into  the 
future.  It  would  be  dreadful  to  be  all 
alone  in  the  future,  without  one's  kins- 
folk." 

''There  may  not  be  any  Indians  or  cata- 
mounts there,"  ventured  Letitia. 

"There  might  be  something  a  great  deal 
worse,"  returned  her  great-great-grand- 
mother severely. 

(32) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 

After  that  there  was  silence  between  the 
two,  and  possibly  also  a  little  coldness.  Le- 
titia  knitted  and  her  great-great-grand- 
mother knitted.  Letitia  also  thought 
shrewdly.  She  had  very  httle  doubt  that 
the  key  which  she  had  just  been  sho^vn 
might  unlock  another  little  green  door, 
and  admit  her  to  her  past  which  was  her 
ancestors'  future,  but  she  realized  that  it 
was  beyond  her  courage,  even  if  she  had 
the  opportunity,  to  take  it,  and  use 
it  provided  she  could  find  the  second 
little  green  door.  She  had  been  so  fright- 
fully punished  for  disobedience,  that  she 
dared  not  risk  a  second  attempt.  Then  too 
how  could  she  tell  whether  the  second  little 
green  door  would  admit  her  to  her  grand- 
mother's cheese-room?  She  felt  so  dizzy 
over  what  had  happened,  that  she  was  not 
even  sure  that  two  and  two  made  four,  and 
b-o-y  spelt  boy,  although  she  had  mastered 
such  easy  facts  long  ago.  Letitia  had  ar- 
(33) 


i 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


^^^ 


rfattk 


rived  at  the  point  wherein  she  did  not  know 
what  she  knew,  and  therefore,  she  resolved 
that  she  would  not  use  that  other  little 
key  with  the  green  ribbon,  if  she  had  a 
chance.  She  shivered  at  the  possibilities 
I  which  it  might  involve.  Suppose  she  were 
to  open  the  second  little  green  door  and  be 
precipitated  head  first  into  a  future  far 
from  the  one  which  had  merged  into 
the  past,  and  be  more  at  a  loss  than  now. 
She  might  find  the  conditions  of  life  even 
more  impossible  than  in  her  great-great- 
great-grandfather's  log  cabin  with  hostile 
j  Indians  about.  It  might,  as  her  great- 
j  great-grandmother  Letitia  had  said,  be 
much  worse.  So  she  knitted  soberly,  and 
the  other  Letitia  knitted,  and  neither 
spoke,  and  there  was  not  a  sound  except 
the  crackling  of  the  hearth  fire  and  bub- 
bling of  water  in  a  large  iron  pot  which 
swung  from  the  crane,  until  suddenly 
there  was  a  frantic  pounding  at  the  door, 
(34) 


■Hi 


THE  GREEX  DOOR 


^aas^ 


A\ 


and  a  sound  as  if  somebody  were  hurled 
against  it. 

Both  Letitias  started  to  their  feet.  Le- 
titia  turned  pale,  but  her  great-great- 
grandmother  Letitia  looked  as  usual.  She 
approached  the  door,  and  spoke  quite 
coolly.    "Who  may  be  without?'*  said  she. 

She  had  taken  a  musket  as  she  crossed 
the  room,  and  stood  with  it  levelled.  Le- 
titia also  took  a  musket  and  levelled  it,  but 
it  shook  and  it  seemed  as  if  her  great- 
great-grandmother  was  in  considerable 
danger. 

There  came  another  pound  on  the  door, 
and  a  boy's  voice  cried  out  desperately. 
"It's  me,  let  me  in." 

"Who  is  me?"  inquired  Great-great- 
grandmother  Letitia,  but  she  lowered  her 
musket,  and  Letitia  did  the  same,  for  it 
was  quite  evident  that  this  was  no  Indian 
and  no  catamount. 

"It  is  Josephus  Peabody,"  answered  the 
(35) 


fUiU^ 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


m 


boy's  voice,  and  Letitia  gasped,  for  she  re- 
membered seeing  that  very  name  on  the 
genealogical  tree  which  hung  in  her  great- 
aunt  Peggy's  front  entry,  although  she 
could  not  quite  remember  where  it  came 
in,  whether  it  was  on  a  main  branch  or  a 
twig. 

"Are  the  Injuns  after  you?"  inquired 
Great-great-grandmother  Letitia. 

"I  don't  know,  but  I  heard  branches 
crackling  in  the  wood,"  replied  the  terri- 
fied boy-voice,"  and  I  saw  your  light 
through  the  shutters." 

"You  rake  the  ashes  over  the  fire,  while 
I  let  him  in,"  ordered  the  great-great- 
grandmother  Letitia,  peremptorily,  and 
Letitia  obeyed. 

She  raked  the  ashes  carefully  over  the 
fire,  she  hung  blankets  over  the  shutters, 
so  there  might  be  no  tell-tale  gleam,  and 
the  other  Letitia  drew  bolts  and  bars,  then 
slammed  the  door  to  again,  and  the  bolts 
and  bars  shot  back  into  place. 
(36) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


^2:^ 


When  Letitia  turned  around  she  saw  a 
little  boy  of  about  her  own  age  who  looked 
strangely  familiar  to  her.  He  was  clad  in 
homespun  of  a  bright  copperas  color,  and 
his  hair  was  red,  cut  in  a  perfectly  round 
rim  over  his  forehead.  He  had  big  blue 
eyes,  which  were  bulging  with  terror.  He 
drew  a  sigh  of  relief  as  he  looked  at  the  two 
girls. 

"If,"  said  he,  "I  had  only  had  a  musket 
I  would  not  have  run,  but  Mr.  Holbrook 
and  Caleb  and  Benjamin  went  hunting 
this  morning,  and  they  carried  all  the  mus- 
kets, and  I  had  nothing  except  this  knife." 

With  that  the  boy  brandished  a  wicked- 
looking  knife. 

"You  might  have  done  something  with 
that,"  remarked  Great-great-grandmother 
Letitia,  and  her  voice  was  somewhat  scorn- 
ful. 

"Yes,  something,"  agreed  the  boy.    "It 
is  a  good  knife.     ]My  father  killed  a  big 
(37) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


L3fiL 


-,^, 


Injun  and  took  it  only  last  week.    It  is  a 
scalping  knife." 

'*Do  you  mean  to  say,"  asked  the  great- 
great-grandmother  Letitia,  "that  you 
don't  know  enough  to  use  that  knife,  great 
boy  that  you  are?" 

The  boy  straightened  himself.  He  saw 
the  other  Letitia  and  his  blue  eyes  were 
full  of  admiration  and  brave^^^  "Of 
course  I  know  how,"  said  he.  "Haven't 
I  killed  ten  wolves  and  aren't  their  heads 
nailed  to  the  outside  of  the  meeting- 
house?" 

Letitia  was  quite  sure  that  the  boy  lied, 
but  she  knew  that  he  lied  to  please  her,  and 
she  liked  him  for  it. 

Great-great-grandmother  Letitia  sniffed. 
"You  are  the  greatest  braggart  in  the 
Precinct,"  said  she.  "Xary  a  wolf  have 
you  killed,  and  you  ran  because  you  heard 
a  wild  cat  or  a  bear.  Where  are  the  In- 
juns, pray?" 

(38) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


■V  / 


/snI 


sfl^ 


"I  know  there  were  Injuns  after  me," 
said  the  boy  earnestly,  "but  perhaps  I 
frightened  them  away.  I  brandished  my 
knife  as  I  ran." 

Great-great-grandmother  Letitia  sniffed 
again,  but  she  looked  anxious.  "I  hope," 
said  she,  "that  father  and  mother  will  not 
be  molested  on  their  way  home." 

"Give  me  a  musket,"  declared  the  boy 
bravely,  "and  I  will  guard  the  path." 

"You !"  returned  Great-great-grand- 
mother Letitia  scornfully.  "You  are 
naught  but  a  child." 

"I  can  handle  a  musket  as  well  as  a 
man,"  said  Josephus  Peabody  with  such 
a  straightening  of  his  small  back  that  it 
seemed  positively  alarming,  and  another 
glance  at  Letitia,  who  returned  it.  She 
thought  him  a  very  pretty  boy,  and  quite 
brave,  offering  to  guard  the  path  all  alone, 
although  he  was  so  young,  not  much  old- 
er than  she  was. 

(39) 


^' 


V 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


Great-great-grandmother  Letitia  took 
up  a  musket  decidedly.  *'Very  well,"  said 
she,  "if  you  can  handle  a  musket  like  a 
man,  here  be  the  chance.  Take  this  mus- 
ket, and  I  will  take  one,  and  Letitia  will 
take  one,  and  we  will  leave  the  door  ajar, 
so  we  can  dash  in  if  hard-pressed,  and 
we  will  keep  watch  lest  father  and  mother 
be  attacked  unawares  at  the  threshold." 

Letitia  was  horribly  afraid,  but  she  had 
learned  in  the  Spartan  household  of  her 
ancestors,  to  be  more  afraid  of  fear  than  of 
anything  else,  so  she  pulled  a  blanket  over 
her  head  and  shouldered  a  musket,  and, 
after  the  elder  Letitia  had  unbarred  and 
unbolted  the  door,  they  all  stepped  out 
into  the  night,  armed  and  ready  to  guard 
the  house. 

"Candace  can  handle  a  musket  and 
so  can  Httle  Phyllis  at  a  pinch,"  said 
the  elder  Letitia  thoughtfully,  "but  I  for 
one  am  thinking  that  your  Injuns  are  cat- 
amounts, Josephus  Peabody." 
(40) 


M     \ 


f> 


SHE  SHOWED  LETITIA  HER  TREASURES 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


"They  are  Injuns,"  said  the  boy  stoutly, 
peering  out  into  the  gloom. 

They  were  in  perfect  darkness,  for  it 
was  a  cloudy  night,  and  not  a  ray  came 
from  the  house-door. 

"For  what  reason  were  you  abroad  to- 
night?" inquired  the  elder  in  what  Letitia 
considered  a  disagreeably  patronizing  tone 
as  addressed  to  such  a  pretty  brave  little 
boy. 

"I  went  to  visit  my  rabbit  traps," replied 
the  boy,  but  his  voice  was  slightly  hesitant. 
"In  this  darkness?" 

"I  had  a  pine  knot,  but  I  flung  it  away 
when  I  heard  the  noises." 

"A  pine  knot,  and  Injuns  around,  and 
you  with  naught  but  a  scalping  knife?  'Tis 
not  braver}^  but  tomfoolery,"  said  the  elder 
Letitia.  "I'll  warrant  you  stole  out 
without  the  knowledge  of  Goodman  Ce- 
phas Holbrook  and  Mistress  Holbrook, 
and  they  having  taken  you  in  as  they  did 
(41) 


V 


V 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


^aA. 


and  given  you  food  and  shelter,  with  nine 
of  their  own  to  care  for,  and  not  knowing 
of  a  certainty  who  you  might  be." 

Letitia  felt  sure  that  the  boy  hung  his 
head  in  the  darkness.  He  mumbled  some- 
thing incoherent. 

"It  was  out  of  the  window  in  the  lean-to 
you  got,  and  ran  away,"  declared  the  elder 
Letitia  severely.  "You  are  not  a  boy  to 
be  trusted.  You  can  remain  here  with  Le- 
titia, and  I  will  stand  guard  a  little  way 
down  the  path ;  and  do  not  speak  above  a 
whisper,  although  I  be  sure  there  be  none 
but  catamounts  to  hear." 

With  that,  Great-great-grandmother 
Letitia,  musket  over  shoulder,  moved 
down  the  path  and  stood  quite  concealed 
as  if  by  a  vast  cloak  of  night,  an  alert  vig- 
ilant young  figure  with  the  hot  blood  of 
her  time  leaping  in  her  veins,  and  the 
shrewd  brain  of  her  time  alive  to  every- 
thing which  might  stir  that  darkness  with 
soimd  or  light. 

(42) 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


iUi^ 


"Who  are  you?"  whispered  Letitia  to 
the  boy. 

''I  am  Josephus  Peabody,  but  I  was 
always  called  Joe  till  I  came  here,"  the 
boy  whispered  back. 

Letitia  pondered.  The  name  sounded 
very  familiar  to  her,  just  as  the  boy's  face 
had  looked.  Then  suddenly  she  remem- 
bered. ''When  I  was  a  little  girl,"  she 
whispered,  "not  more  than  seven — I  am 
going  on  ten  now — I  knew  a  little  boy 
named  Joe  Peabody,  and  he  was  visiting 
his  grandmother,  Mrs.  Joe  Peabody.  She 
lives  about  half  a  mile  from  my  Aunt 
Peggy's  around  the  corner  of  the  road.  It 
is  a  big  white  house  next  to  the  grave- 
yard." 

"That  was  me,"  said  the  boy.  "At  least," 
he  added  in  rather  a  dazed  and  hopeless 
tone,  "I  suppose  it  was,  and  I  guess  I  re- 
member you  too.  You  had  curls,  and  we 
went  coasting  down  that  long  hill  near 
Grandmother's  together." 
(43) 


r^ 


inrj    \^n^ihj\    jjuuit 


"Seems  to  me  we  did,"  said  Letitia,  and 
her  o\^Ti  tone  was  dazed  and  hopeless. 

"Since  I  have  been  here,"  whispered  the 
boy,  "I  haven't  been  exactly  sure  who  I 
was  and  that  is  the  truth.  The  folks  where 
I  am  staying  are  real  good.  They  go  to 
meeting  all  day  Sunday  and  they  don't 
work  Saturday  nights,  but  I  can't  under- 
stand it.  We  have  to  make  all  the  things 
I  have  seen  already  made,  for  one  thing." 

Letitia  nodded  in  the  dark. 

"That  is  the  way  here,"  said  she. 

"And  Mr.  CejDhas  Holbrook  has  just 
the  name  that  my  great-great-great-uncle 
on  my  mother's  side  had,"  said  the  boy,  in 
a  whisper  so  puzzled  that  it  was  fairly 
agonized.  "Grandmother  has  told  me 
about  him.  He  had  a  battle  with  six  In- 
juns and  killed  them  all  himself,  and  this 
Mr.  Cephas  Holbrook  has  done  just  that 
same  thing.  And  he  killed  ten  wolves  and 
nailed  their  heads  to  the  meeting-house. 
(44) 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


mmi'i^ 


"Say,"  the  boy  continued  confidentially, 
*'those    were    the    heads    I    meant,    you 

know." 

"Of  course  I  know,"  whispered  Letitia. 
"I  wouldn't  speak  to  you  if  you  had  done 
such  awful  things." 

"I  didn't,  honestly,"  said  Josephus  Pea- 
body.  "Where  did  you  come  from  to- 
night?" asked  Letitia. 

"Why,  I  came  from  Mr.  Cephas  Hol- 
brook's.    It's  about  ten  miles  away  on  that 
side."    The  boy  pointed  in  the  dark. 
"You  came  all  that  way?" 
"I  had  to  if  I  came  at  all.    I  don't  get 
any  time  to  see  my  traps  day-times.      I 
have  to  work.    I  have  to  chop  wood,  and 
make  wooden  pegs.    I  never  saw  wooden 
pegs,  till— till  I  came  here.     I  have  to 
work  all  day.     Eliphalet  Holbrook,  he's 
a  boy  about  my  size,  got  out  of  the  window 
one  night,  when  it  was  moonlight,  and 
d  we  haven't  either  of  us 


we  set  traps, 


(45) 


\/^ 


•  » 


d!;A 


had  a  chance  to  look  at  them  and  see  if 
we've  caught  anything;  but  to-night,  I 
had  a  cold  and  they  sent  me  to  bed  early 
and  I  whispered  to  Eliphalet,  that  I'd  see 
those  traps ;  and  I  had  a  pine  knot,  and  I 
run  and  run,  but  I  couldn't  find  the  traps." 

''You  didn't  run  ten  miles?" 

''No,  the  traps  were  set  only  about  three 
miles  from  where  we  live  and  I  rather 
think  I  lost  my  way.  Then  I  heard  the  In- 
juns— say,  I  used  to  call  them  Indians." 

"So  did  I,"  said  Letitia. 

"They  say  Injuns  here.  Then  I  heard 
them,  and  I  run  the  rest  of  the  way,  and 
then  I  saw  your  light.  Are  you  one  of 
Captain  John  Hopkins'  children?" 

"I  don't  know.  I  don't  think  I  am," 
rephed  Letitia  miserably. 

"What  is  your  name?" 

"Letitia  Hopkins." 

"Then  you  must  be." 

"I  don't  beheve  I  am." 
(46) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


Suddenly  Letitia  felt  a  hard  little  boy- 
hand  clutch  hers  in  the  dark.  The  boy's 
voice  whispered  forcibly  in  her  ear.  ''Say," 
said  the  voice,  "did  you — did  you  get  here, 
I  wonder,  in  some  queer  way  just  as  I 
did?" 

Letitia  whispered  forcibly,  "Through 
a  little  green  door  in  my  Great-aunt 
Feggy's  cheese-room." 

"Had  she  told  you  never  to  open  it?" 

"Yes,  but  she  and  Hannah  left  me  alone 

when  they  went  to  meeting  and  I  found 

the  key  in  a  little  box,  and  the  key  had  a 

green  ribbon  and  it  unlocked  the  door,  and 

I  was  in  the  woods  around  here,  and  Aunt 

Peggy's  house  was  gone  and  everything." 

"How  long  have  you  been  here?" 

"I  don't  know.     It  must  have  been  a 


V 


MB 


T±l±li     LTJtJl.Ji.xN     JJUUlt 


■4^ 


Letitia  shivered,  half  with  joy,  half  T^^th 
horror.  "Did  you  come  through  a  little 
green  door?" 

"No,  I  came  through  a  book." 

Letitia  jumped.  "A  book!"  she  re- 
peated feebly. 

"Yes,  it  was  a  book.  I  didn't  know  it  at 
first.  I  thought  it  was  just  a  wooden  box 
up  in  Grandmother  Peabody's  garret,  and 
it  was  always  locked,  and  Grandmother 
Peabody  said  I  was  never  to  ask  any 
questions  about  it,  and  never  to  try  to  open 
it.  I  expect  she  was  afraid  I  might  try 
to  pick  the  lock.  Then  I  began  to  sus- 
pect that  it  was  a  book,  and  then  I  found 
the  key.  I  stayed  at  home  from  meeting 
just  like  you,  and  I  had  a  cold.  My  father 
had  died,  and  I  had  come  to  live  with 
Grandmother  Peabody." 

"I   remember  now  Aunt   Peggy  told 
Hannah  about  it,"  whispered  Letitia  with 
sudden  remembrance. 
US) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


m 


^ 


;iA<  .1 


iS^ 


"I  don't  know  how  long  ago  it  was,  for 
I  have  done  so  much  work  making  wooden 
nails,  when  all  the  nails  I  had  ever  seen 
were  bought  at  a  shop,  and  such  things, 
that  it  seems  an  awful  long  time;  but  I 
was  left  alone  just  the  way  you  were,  and  I 
found  the  key  to  that  book  that  looked  like 
a  wooden  box.  It  was  in  a  little  drawer 
of  Grandmother's  secretary." 

"Did  it  have  a  green  ribbon  on  it?" 
whispered  Letitia  breathlessly. 

"Yes,  it  did,  honest,  a  green  ribbon,  and 
I  went  up  in  the  garret  and  I  unlocked 
that  book,  and  first  thing  I  knew  I  was  in 
the  woods  around  the  house  where  I  live 
now,  and  a  wolf  was  chasing  me,  and  ^Ir. 
Cephas  Holbrook  shot  him,  and  took  me 
home." 

Letitia  sighed.  "Do  you  like  it  here?" 
she  whispered. 

"I  think  it  is  awful,  don't  you?" 

"Yes,  I  do,  but  I  don't  dare  say  so." 
(49^ 


•-t—isy-T- s."- 


.^^.^^i&si^Al 


THi^    GKJii^iN     DUUK 


r  r»ffiiii  laiiMi  •■■MtiiTTTHH  ^1. 


I  do,"  said  Josephus  Peabody.  "I 
ain't  afraid  of  anything  that  ain't  bigger 
and  stronger  than  I  am,  honest,  and  I 
have  killed  one  wolf  my  own  self.  That  is 
true,  but  I  didn't  kill  the  others.  I  told 
that  because  that  other  girl  was  turning 
up  her  nose  so  at  me.  But  I  don't  like  to 
live  here  at  all.  I  used  to  complain  when 
I  was  Joe  instead  of  Josephus,  and  had 
to  learn  lessons,  and  do  errands.  But 
this  is  worse  than  anything  I  ever  dreamed 
about  when  I  had  the  nightmare." 

"That  is  the  way  I  feel,"  said  Letitia 
soberly.  "I  used  to  complain,  but  I 
wouldn't  now.  I've  been  living  back  of 
complaints  too  long." 

"So  have  I,"  said  Josephus.  Then  he 
added,  "Say,  I'm  awful  glad  I  got  scared, 
and  ran  here,  and  found  you." 

"So  am  I." 

"There's  something  I  w^ant  to  tell  you 
that's  very  queer,"  whispered  Josephus. 
(50) 


THE    GREEX   DOOR 


lAa^ 


"There  is  a  wooden  book  just  like  the  one 
in  Mr.  Holbrook's  house  under  the  eaves 
in  the  lean-to,  and  I  know  where  the  key  is. 
It  is  in  the  chest  in  the  kitchen,  in  the  till 
hidden  under  a  lot  of  linen  night-caps." 

"Has  it  a  green  ribbon  on  it?"  whispered 
Letitia  fearfully. 

"Yes,  it  has.    Say,  don't  you  ever  think 
you'd  like  to  run  away  from  here?" 

"Yes,  but  I'm  afraid  I  might  get  into 
something  worse." 

"That's  the  way  I  feel.  Otherwise  we 
might  both  watch  our  chance  and  go 
through  that  wooden  book  in  our  lean-to, 
but  we  might  find  ourselves  in  Grand- 
mother Peabody's  garret  where  I  came 
from,  and  we  might  find  ourselves  in  a 
place  full  of  worse  wild  animals  than  there 
are  here,  and  things  worse  than  Injuns. 
And  we  might  have  to  learn  more  than 
we've  learned  here,  and  work  harder,  and 
I  don't  feel  as  if  I  could  stand  that." 
(51^ 


THE    GREEX    DOOR 


i?L<cX:l^ 


*'I  don't  either."  Then  Letitia  whis- 
pered ver}^  violently,  *' There  is  a  little 
green  door  here,  and  I  know  where  the  key 
is,  with  a  green  ribbon,  but  I  am  afraid." 

"That's  very  funny — just  like  me,"  said 
Josephus. 

"Well,  I  may  make  up  my  mind  to  take 
the  chance  anyhow,  and  if  I  do  you  had 
better.  Say,  if  you  hear  I've  gone,  you 
just  go  through  your  little  green  door,  will 

you?" 

"Maybe,"  whispered  Letitia  doubtfully, 
and  then  her  Great-great-grandmother 
Letitia  came  back.  "There  isn't  a  sign  of 
an  Injun  here,"  said  she,  "and  I  am  'most 
froze.  I'm  going  to  start  the  fire,  and 
you  boy,  you  had  better  come  too.  You 
can  sleep  on  the  floor  by  the  fire  to-night 
and  go  home  in  the  morning.  Father  and 
mother  are  coming.  I  heard  their  horses. 
Mother's  is  a  little  lame,  and  favors  one 
foot,  and  I  know.  They're  right  here, 
(52) 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


ita>. 


and  they'll  be  cold,  and  I've  got  to  start 
up  the  fire." 

I'll  help,"  cried  Josephus. 

"You'd  better,"  said  the  elder  Letitia; 
"if  I  had  a  brother  as  big  as  you,  he'd 
have  to  work  instead  of  hunting  rabbits." 

Josephus  flew  about  the  kitchen  drag- 
ging heavy  logs,  and  poking  the  fire,  and 
Letitia  quite  admired  him,  but  her  great- 
great-grandmother  simply  scolded.  "You 
are  a  most  unhandy  boy,"  said  she.  "You 
can  have  had  little  training  in  making 
hearth  fires." 

However,  the  flames  leaped  high  into  the 
great  chimney  mouth,  when  Captain  John 
Hopkins  and  his  wife  entered. 

"How  pleasant  it  is,  and  how  thankful 
we  ought  to  be  to  have  a  good  warm  room 
to  enter,"  said  Great-great-great-grand- 
mother Letitia  Hopkins,  although  she 
looked  very  grave.  The  sick  neighbor  was 
very  sick  unto  death,  it  was  feared,  and 
(53) 


IMJ^    UK±iij:JN     DOOR 


da^^^ 


imi 


she  was  a  good  woman  and  a  good  neigh- 
bor. 

Josephus  Peabody  stayed  all  night  and 
slept  wrapped  up  in  a  homespun  blanket 
beside  the  fire,  but  the  next  morning  it  was 
hardly  daylight  before  Goodman  Cephas 
Holbrook  came  for  him.  Cephas  Hol- 
brook  was  a  very  stern  man,  and  he  be- 
lieved in  the  rod.  Before  Josephus  left 
he  had  just  one  chance  and  he  improved 
it.  It  was  while  Mr.  Holbrook  was  par- 
taking of  a  glass  of  something  warm 
and  spicy  which  Great-great-great-grand- 
mother Letitia  Hopkins  mixed  for  him. 
It  was  a  cordial  of  her  o^\ti  compounding 
and  a  good  thing  for  the  stomach  on  a  bit- 
ter morning,  and  this  morning  was  very 
bitter. 

Josephus  whispered  to  Letitia:  "He 
will  give  me  an  awful  licking  when  we  get 
home,  and  I  am  not  afraid,  honest.  But 
if  I  can  get  hold  of  that  key,  I  mean  to  go 
into  that  book  this  ver^'-  night." 
(54) 


V^: 


THE   GREEN   DOOR 


ibAi 


Letitia  looked  frightened. 

"You  had  better—"  began  Josephus, 
and  he  nodded  meaningly. 

Letitia  knew  what  he  meant,  but  she  had 
no  chance  to  reply,  for  Mr.  Holbrook  had 
finished  his  cordial  and  had  Josephus  by 
the  hand,  and  was  jerking  him  rather  for- 
cibly out  of  the  door. 

"A  froward  child,  I  fear,"  remarked 
Captain  John  Hopkins  when  they  had 
gone. 

"Yes,"  assented  his  wife. 

"He  is  afraid  of  Injuns  when  there  are 
none,  too,"  said  Great-great-grandmother 
Letitia. 

"That  is  an  evil  thing,  too,"  said  her 
father.  "It  is  distrusting  the  Almighty  to 
fear  where  is  nothing  to  fear.  A  froward 
child,  and  I  trust  that  Goodman  Holbrook 
will  not  spare  the  rod." 

Letitia  was  very  sure  that  he  would  not, 
and  she  pitied  poor  Josephus  Peabody 
(55) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


•.-aft  ,«r>ii;^*^-'»-ija»A'*3»i-h'!SiB»*»«ES;*« 


AsOl. 


m 


with  all  her  heart.  She  also  pitied  her- 
self more  than  usual  that  day,  for  the  cold 
was  stinging,  and  she  was  put  to  hard 
tasks,  and  she  felt  forlorn  at  the  thought 
that  her  little  brother  in  the  hardships  of 
the  Past  might  that  very  night  strive  to 
make  his  escape.  Gradually  her  own  re- 
solve grew.  She  was  horribly  afraid,  but 
she  was  also  horribly  homesick,  and  home- 
sickness will  urge  to  desperate  deeds. 

That  night,  also,  Captain  John  Hopkins 
and  his  wife  went  to  visit  the  sick  neigh- 
bor, and,  after  the  younger  sisters  were 
in  bed,  Letitia  was  left  alone  with  her 
great-great-grandmother,  who  was  sleepy. 
Letitia  did  not  talk;  she  knitted,  with  a 
shrewd  eye  upon  the  elder  Letitia,  who 
presently  fell  fast  asleep.  Then  Letitia 
rose  softly,  and  laid  down  her  knitting 
work.  It  might  be  her  chance  for  nobody 
knew  how  long,  and  Josephus  might  even 
now  be  entering  his  book.  She  pulled  off 
(56) 


THE   GREEN   DOOR 


tl 


BM^aOk 


her  shoes,  tiptoed  in  her  thick  yarn  stock- 
ings up  to  the  loft,  got  her  own  clothes 
out  of  the  chest,  and  put  them  on.  The 
little  great-great-aunts  did  not  stir.  Le- 
titia  blew  a  kiss  to  them.  Then  she  tip- 
toed down,  got  the  key  out  of  the  secret 
drawer,  blew  another  farewell  kiss  to  her 
sleeping  great-great-grandmother  and 
was  out  of  the  house. 

It  was  broad  moonlight  outside.  She 
ran  around  to  the  north  side  of  the  house, 
and  there  was  the  little  green  door  hidden 
under  the  low  branches  of  the  spruce  tree. 
Letitia  gave  a  sob  of  fear  and  thankful- 
ness. She  fitted  the  key  in  the  lock,  turned 
it,  opened  the  door,  and  there  she  was 
back  in  her  great-aunt's  cheese-room. 

She  shut  the  door  hard,  locked  it,  and 
carried  the  key  back  to  its  place  in  the 
satin-wood  box.  Then  she  looked  out  of 
the  window,  and  there  was  her  great-aunt 
Veggy,  and  the  old  maid-servant  just  com- 
ing home  from  meeting. 
(57) 


^' 


V 


r 


THE    GREEN    DOOR 


\ 


fA^--..-  _, 


Letitia  confessed  what  she  had  done, 
and  her  aunt  listened  gravely.  Letitia 
did  not  say  anything  about  Josephus  Pea- 
body. 

She  was  not  sure  that  he  had  made  his 
escape,  and  if  he  had  his  grandmother 
might  punish  him,  and  she  considered  that 
he  had  probably  suffered  enough  at  the 
hands  of  Goodman  Cephas  Holbrook. 

Letitia's  aunt  listened  gravely.  "You 
were  disobedient,"  said  she  when  Letitia 
had  finished,  "but  I  think  your  disobedi- 
ance  has  brought  its  own  punishment,  and 
I  hope  now  that  you  will  be  more  con- 
tented." 

"Oh,  Aunt  Peggy,"  sobbed  Letitia, 
"everything  I've  got  is  so  beautiful,  and  I 
love  to  study  and  crochet  and  go  to 
church." 

"Well,  it  was  a  hard  lesson  to  learn,  and 
I  hoped  to  spare  you  from  it,  but  perhaps 
it  was  for  the  best,"  said  her  great-aunt 
Peggy. 

(58) 


THE    GREEN   DOOR 


rfa^ 


"I  was  there  a  whole  winter,"  said  Le- 
titia,  *'but  when  I  got  back  you  were  just 
coming  home  from  church." 

"It  doesn't  take  as  long  to  visit  the  past 
as  it  did  to  live  in  it,"  replied  her  aunt. 
Then  she  sent  Letitia  to  her  room  for  the 
satin-wood  box,  and,  when  she  had  brought 
it,  took  out  of  it  a  little  parcel,  neatly 
folded  in  white  paper,  tied  with  a  green 
ribbon.    "Open  it,"  said  she. 

Letitia  untied  the  green  ribbon  and  un- 
folded the  paper,  and  there  was  the  little 
silver  snuff-box  which  had  been  the  treas- 
ure of  the  great-great-grandmother,  Le- 
titia Hopkins.  She  raised  the  hd,  and 
there  was  also  the  little  glass  bottle. 

They  had  a  very  nice  dinner  that  day, 
and  afterward  had  settled  down  for  a  quiet 
afternoon,  Letitia  feeling  very  happy, 
when  there  was  a  jingle  of  sleigh  bells,  and 
Aunt  Peggy  cried  out.  "Why,  I  declare," 
said  she,  "if  there  isn't  Mrs.  Joe  Peabody 
(59^ 


mmmi^imm^m 


±r±rj    \^ixs^rj^\     uuuit 


^^ 


with  her  little  grandson  driving  over  this 
cold  day.     She  is  a  very  smart  old  lady/' 

Then  Aunt  Peggy  hurried  out  to  tell 
Hannah,  the  maid  sen^ant,  to  have  some 
tea,  and  hot  biscuits,  and  quince  presences, 
and  pound  cakes  servxd  before  the  guests 
left,  and  Hannah  with  a  shawl  over  her 
head,  went  out  and  backed  the  old  lady's 
horse  into  the  barn,  and  ]Mrs.  Joe  Pea- 
body  and  her  grandson  entered. 

Mrs.  Joe  Peabody  was  a  ver}^  pretty  old 
lady  when  she  was  unwrapped  from  her 
black  cloak  and  two  shawls  and  fitch  tip- 
pet and  pumpkin  hood,  and  seated  in  the 
big  chair  by  the  fire.  Her  white  hair  hung 
on  either  side  of  her  face  in  rows  of  beauti- 
ful curls,  and  her  eyes  were  blue  as  tur- 
quoises. Her  grandson  stood  by  her  side, 
and  she  had  a  loving  arm  around  him. 
"You  remember  my  grandson  Joe,  don't 
you,  dear?"  she  said  to  Letitia.  "Two 
years  ago  you  used  to  go  coasting  to- 
gether." 

(60) 


THE  GREEN  DOOR 


mm 


tmiih 


"Yes'm,"  said  Letitia.  She  and  Joe 
glanced  at  each  other,  and  their  eyes  were 
very  big,  and  their  cheeks  very  red. 

Later  on  when  the  tea  and  biscuits  and 
preserves  and  pound  cake  were  served,  Joe 
and  Letitia  got  a  chance  for  a  word. 
''You  got  back  alright  through  the  little 
green  door,"  whispered  Joe. 
Letitia  nodded. 

"And  I  came  right  through  that  book 
into  grandma's  garret,"  whispered  Joe, 
''and  I  told  grandma  all  about  it,  and  she 
only  laughed  and  hugged  me  and  said 
some  laws  were  made  to  be  broken  for  the 
good  of  the  breakers.  But  I  am  glad  to 
be  back  here,  aren't  you?" 

"Oh,"  gasped  Letitia  fervently,  and 
she  took  a  bite  of  pound  cake. 

"This  would  have  been  corn  meal  mush 
there,"  said  she. 

"And  I  should  have  got  another  whip- 
ping after  I  got  out  of  the  book  like  the 
one  I  had  before  I  got  in,"  said  Joe. 
(61) 


They  both  ate  pound  cake  and  looked 
happily  at  each  other.  *'I  think,"  said  Joe 
presently,  "that  it  would  be  better  not  to 
tell  the  other  boys  and  girls  about  all  this. 
Grandmother  thinks  so." 

"Aunt  Peggy  does,  too,"  said  Letitia. 
"They  might  think  we  made  it  all  up,  it  is 
so  queer.  No,  we  will  never  tell  anybody 
as  long  as  we  live." 


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